Eritrea persecution at ‘highest level ever’

Religious persecution in Eritrea is at its “highest level ever and getting worse,” an Eritrean Christian leader, who cannot be named for security reasons, has told the Christian charity Open Doors International.

Thirty-seven Christian students from the College of Arts and Social Sciences in the Eritrean town of Adi Kihe and five men from the Church of the Living God in Asmara were arrested in mid-May, raising the total number of Christians known to have been arrested this year to 191.

Open Doors, a ministry to Christians who live under pressure because of their faith, estimates that 1,200 Christians are now incarcerated in Eritrea. However, some estimates claim the figure to be as high as 3,000. In 2012, Open Doors estimated that 31 Christians died in prison.

Eritrea is a country of 6 million people situated between Sudan, Ethiopia and the Red Sea. Read more